Unsettling Peace
by Meffisto
Summary: It was true that he missed the days when he could be reckless, when he could destroy buildings and fight bad guys. But life was peaceful, and he wanted it because she was there to make it that way.


Hi everyone. So here's another Gruvia fic, non-AU this time. I just wanted to share my take on Gray's thoughts about living with Juvia. This is probably inaccurate since he still doesn't manifest his devil slayer magic. Hope everyone likes it. Thaanks. :)

* * *

Gray was never one to settle down. His spirit yearned for adventures and glorious conquests. His body had been habituated to strenuous missions and jobs through the years that he had been a mage. His mind was already conditioned to long travels and quick strategic plans. Even now he found himself alert with the harmless shadows that lurked the corners of their home. He tensed at small sounds and became alert with even the slightest sign of something amiss. He just couldn't help it. It was his life to simply act.

Juvia on the other hand was enjoying every bit of the simple life. She had immediately accustomed herself to doing _everything_. She had taken it upon herself to clean, cook, shop, fuss and worry about everything. There was never a minute where she lost anything to do. When she had exhausted herself with cleaning the entire house one day, Gray though she would be satisfied, only to be proved wrong when the next morning, she had decided to pluck every poor weed out in their backyard to start her own garden.

He and Juvia had already been living together for 4 months. After the disbandment of the guild, everyone was lost as to where to go and what to do. Gray had similarly fretted over the rest of his life, wandering the streets of Magnolia while trying to come up with multiple plans for his uncertain future. Of course he had yet to accept the sudden decision of Master Makarov to send them all away, but at the moment, he could do nothing but follow orders. So there he was mulling over his thoughts, unconsciously shedding his clothes piece by piece.

It was a small cough that distracted him from his mind, originating from behind him. Gray turned around and saw Juvia standing a few steps behind him. In her arms were all his shed clothing, neatly folded. She had a hesitant smile on her face, as if unsure of whether she should even be there. Gray cursed at his habit and groaned into the palm of his hand.

Juvia gave a small laugh and gave him a reassuring nod. She stepped a little closer to him and handed him his clothes. Gray unceremoniously donned them, a scowl still on his face. While he was buttoning his shirt, Juvia diverted her eyes to look at her boots. She tucked a stray strand of her behind her ears before speaking.

" _Juvia just..uhmm.. she just wanted to ask if Gray-sama wouldn't mind if she tagged along with him?"_ She squirmed and played with her hands. " _..even just for a little while. Juvia doesn't know where else to go"_ She looked up at him unsure and probably nervous of his reply. " _Gajeel-kun offered but Juvia doesn't want to trouble him and..and Levy-san"_

Gray didn't even have to think, he simply nodded his approval. Juvia's face changed immediately, an unbelieving look settled on her face. She looked utterly flabbergasted and confused. Gray thought she didn't understand what he meant, so he verbalized his agreement and watched her expression morph into something else. Juvia's face lit up, a beaming smile spreading on her lips. She almost tackled him but seemed to control herself and thanked him shyly and profusely instead. Gray chuckled at her expression. She had gotten better at restraining herself from randomly clinging to him. After the incident with his father, Juvia seemed to distance herself away from him physically, probably still a little guilty even after he had corrected her multiple times that her guilt was unwarranted.

He didn't mind her with him. In fact, he wanted her by his side. Ever since he had pushed her out of the way and taken the hit meant for her when they were battling against the dragons, something had changed in him.

 _I mean, who takes a fucking fatal hit like that for someone that's not at least extremely important._ And Juvia was important to him, very important indeed. Gray was no idiot, he already acknowledged the fact that he at the very least liked her, probably even loved the damned woman. But he was also not some courageous, bumbling love-sick fool ( _*cough..Lyon.._ ) who could just shout to the heavens whatever he felt for her. For now, Gray was content with keeping his emotions at bay.

Now as he stood by their porch, watching her whacking weeds like a maniac, he doubted he could ever tell her directly. After they had traveled for about a week or two, they had finally found a place where they could settle. And so began their domestic life as..companions. They had developed sort of a ritual that worked for both of them. The house that they lived in was modest and not too big. It had a small kitchen and a single bathroom with an adjoining bedroom.

The first problem that they ever encountered was how the hell they would manage to sleep comfortably on a single bed. That first night, Gray had offered to sleep on the floor while Juvia hesitantly took the bed. Their problem was magically solved when in the morning, Gray found her tiny body huddled in the sheets, shivering and probably freezing to death. They had slept together ever since.

To say that he didn't have trouble with it the first few weeks was an understatement. Just the feeling of her trusting body nestled comfortably against his was enough to make him want to take a long and frigid dip down in the frozen river right beside their yard. He dealt with it eventually by suffocating himself with her blue hair and thinking of Natsu's face when he rode any form of transportation.

Most of their nights were peaceful, but once in a while they would get their fare share of nightly terrors. It was usually Gray who got them, waking up with an erratic heart, wide eyes and empty arms. On those occasions, Juvia would simply get out of bed immediately. She had already learned once that touching him was not a very good idea. She had gotten one nasty bruise and an incredibly guilty roommate after that particular night. It had taken her weeks before he would finally allow himself to touch her again.

After he would wake up, she would slowly approach him before letting him grab her. It was always the same with Gray. He would cling to her as if his very survival depended on it, wrapping his hands, arms, legs and body all over hers. She would always stay quiet for him, knowing that he needed the silence. She would reciprocate his embrace and gently stroke his hair.

They would stay like that for over an hour before Gray would finally allow them to fall back onto the sheets. He would loosen his hold a bit so that she could wiggle around to find some sort of comfortable position within his embrace. They would soon return to sleep afterwards, never talking about any of his dreams.

It was different for Juvia. When the rare occurrence of her having a nightmare happened, all Gray needed to do was carry her out into the cold night and let her cry on his chest. The open breeze seemed to help her calm down. She would babble about missing the guild and their friends, about how unfair it was that her potatoes refused to grow, about being sorry for what she had done to Silver, about hoping that Gray-sama would never get tired of her. They would sit there and stare at the sky for about a minute or two after she had stopped crying. He would then wordlessly carry her back into their room where they would succumb back to unconsciousness, also not mentioning a word about her own nightmares.

Another one of their routines was to go shopping together. Gray was surprisingly terrible at haggling, he just never seemed to have the energy to argue about prices and goods. Juvia on the other hand, was a pro. She could charm her way into freebies and giveaways just by batting her eyelashes and chatting up whoever manned the stalls. Gray learned to shut his mouth whenever they went out to buy supplies, it was probably the only time Juvia would scold him for being a whiner. She would pout at him whenever he grumbled and would opt to pile stack after stack of whatever she would deem necessary to buy.

Gray didn't really appreciate being designated as the typical man who carried stuff for a woman but he thought that it was worth it if he could watch over her as she busied herself with shopping. Juvia never noticed but he was responsible for shooting death glares at whomever looked at her the wrong way. He also sidelined as a personal brick wall to scumbags who purposely made their way to her direction. He had already broken a few wrists and fingers attached to wandering hands that had gotten a little too close to her pockets, hips, hair, or even just her sleeve. All this and Juvia was oblivious.

Juvia wiped at her forehead before looking to where Gray stood. She beamed at him and nodded at him to bring her what she needed. Gray groaned loudly, bending to haul the sack of dung or fertilizer or whatever she said it was over to where she stood. He cursed at the smell that reeked from the offending pile and moved away. Juvia patted his arm as thanks as she began to continue with her work. The garden that she had cultivated turned out nicely. They had a neat row of medium size cabbages next to some pumpkins. They also had budding plants and a few rose bushes.

Gray was proud of her but that didn't mean that he liked touching chicken shit and rotten food just to bring her fertilizer. He stalked towards the adjacent river, taking off his shirt as he scrubbed his arms and hands. He knew that Juvia was probably blushing right now and he smirked to himself. All this time and she had yet to accustom herself to seeing his skin. He settled himself on the bank and looked up at the clear blue sky. Things had been oddly peaceful the past few months. It wasn't that Gray didn't like it but he couldn't help but feel restless. It was like he was unconsciously preparing himself for something big.

They hadn't slacked off on training, so why was Gray yearning to do more? He wanted to become stronger, faster and smarter. He wanted to be good enough. For what? He didn't know.

Closing his eyes, he let himself relax. He could hear the gentle flowing of the river. He could hear the rustling of the leaves of the trees. He could also hear light footsteps coming towards him. He kept himself still as Juvia lay beside him. He stretched out one of his arms and she immediately pressed into his side, her cold little nose brushing against his chest.

They had certainly become closer than ever before. There was still shyness and hesitance in their touches but intimacy was never absent. Both of them became comfortable with each other's presence. They learned to trust.

They had their petty and grand fights, sometimes shouting obscenities and getting at each other's throats but they always came together in the end. It was either Gray's guilt for saying things he didn't mean or Juvia's sheer fear that he would hate her that ultimately got them to apologize. They would be as close to each other as possible after their quarrels, wanting to forget about ever being angry at someone they extremely cared about.

Gray was sure now that keeping her with him was the right decision. He had this peace because he was with her. He doubted if he could have achieved this on his own. His own feelings were harder to suppress. It felt like at any given moment he would just snap and kiss her senseless every time she did something for him. She was just so unbearably adorable sometimes.

Sometimes Gray would catch himself watching her body move beneath her clothes or salivating at the flash or her pink tongue when it darted out to wet her plump lips. He would bite his fist on those occasions and debate on whether he really should consider jumping into the river. She just didn't know how effortlessly she made him weak, even her simple smiles made his blood burn.

Juvia had also grown bolder, losing some of her self-inflicted distance. She would kiss his cheek sometimes when she was happy or when he brought her flowers with their roots still attached with a silly grin on his face. When they sat close together on their porch, she would play with his hands and make him ice-make all sorts of things.

Gray had also developed a liking to her skin. It was pale and smooth and so very nice to touch. He liked to rest his head on her shoulder and her lap when he was tired without any permission ( _as if Juvia could refuse him_ ) He liked to drag his fingertips over her arm and watch as the tiny hairs stiffened when she felt goosebumps. He liked to caress her face when she was sleeping beside him, just because he could.

They had already shared a couple of kisses and a few heated touches, ones that left both of them breathless and aching. Gray had initiated almost all of them, barely able to contain his hormones. But she wasn't just any village girl to satisfy his carnal needs. She was there to teach him about love and commitment, security and warmth. She was his precious companion, friend, roommate, _lover_ , and any other label that he could think of.

It was true that he missed the days when he could be reckless, when he could destroy buildings and fight bad guys. It was true that his body never lost its suspicious nature. It was true that he always had this foreboding feeling.

But life was peaceful, and he wanted it because she was there to make it that way.

* * *

:3


End file.
